Front door opening into room: give me your cunning solutions for the dirty shoe problem

[ParsingFancy]

I can't seem to sort this one out.

We have a carpeted front room opening onto the street.

Every single rug or plastic runner we've put by the door walks off and huddles under the nearest furniture, or climbs the inside of the door to stop it opening and the plastic ones are fugly.

There's no possibility of building a porch.

I know I'm not the only one this problem: please come and tell me your clever solutions!

Can you cut out a large square in the carpet with a little frame and inset a doormat (you can have them made to size) into that. It will stay put. You see it quite a lot in hallways with wooden floors .

I'm heading towards that, but unfortunately it would have to be more than a metre square, to allow person in and door to close behind them - and that's before DP's inability to keep to a small mat.

We have a hallway but i got fed up with tbe tiny doormat problem. We went to our local carpet shop and asked for coir (?) matting. Basically doormat but it can come on rolls like carpet. They fitted a piece to suit our hall - full width and probably 6ft long. Just big enough for us to get in and shut the door behind us. The kids tend to run in and then sit on the bottom step of the stair to take off shoes. However because they have had to walk across the mat the dirt is defo reduced. Could you make a big panel where the hall once would have been but set into the carpet as suggested above?

Have you tried Turtlemats They are amazing.

Ooh, those look snazzy, bedhopper. But the buggers'll be off round the room before you can say knife.

Inset or nailed down is the only way, isn't it?

It's such a small room already, anything marking off an area makes it look even tinier.

Is that your DC moving the rugs? These ones do seem to stay put (I have a lot of them...) I have an extra long one that I park the pram on so i never have to clean the wheels like DM thinks I should

No, they just come alive.

Seriously. No DC. The rugs wander on their very own within a day of being put down, especially the plastic runner which has spikes to, er, stop it moving.

The only vaguely rational explanation I've heard is that the (short!) pile of the carpet "walks" the rugs in one direction when they're trodden on.

tricot, thank you, coir is looking likely if we go for inset. Or I could go the whole hog and turn the corner into grim laminate...

ha ha, poltergeist rugs. i still think the turtle mat would not do that (our carpets are pretty short-pile). Maybe check if they do free returns and try one out? Much cheaper than insets. And you can chuck a Turtle mat in the washing machine when it gets muddy, and it works even better afterwards.

I don't work for them, honestly

You could try a Turtle mat, the advantage is that you can wash them and they trap loads of dirt.
If not then the inset coir is probably your best bet.

We have a house with the same layout and have a sisal runner a bit like this only in a lighter colour. Would a longer one stop it walking off?

Watching with interest, have just purchased a turtle mat, label is still on till I decide to keep it or not. It's in the kitchen, on tiled floor by the French doors, DD hasn't managed to get it to slide about yet so it looks promising!

One of our failures was a long runner with heavy furniture on one end. It developed a weird kink as it travelled.

Hmm. I think part of the problem is that the mat needs to go right to the doorway for wheelchair wheels and DP's size 9s coming over it, but there isn't much height clearance. So a fairly small ruck or wander immediately snags the opening door.

(I don't use the wheelchair in the house, so it's not some strange effect of that.)

I'm contemplating nailing a fabric rug! Bet that's not in good housekeeping...

we have made the first 4' of our hall entrance a wall to wall coir mat - sunken into the floor. Plenty of room to come in and close door - then remove shoes and leave at sides of mat. Sorted!

So Thistle, what does actually happen with your sisal rug? Does it not wander, or is the wandering somehow not a problem?

we had mat inset into bit by front door in previous open plan house. it worked really well.

we have turtle mats now- they are fab. the one by the front door has been going at least 10 years, goes in the machine and dries on a radiator. one of those things that if you worked out pence per use, it would be the best thing ever.

would seriously try one. we got ours from JL- so you could always take back if it didnt work.

Our rug doesn't wander. We have it on a wooden floor now but I don't recall any wandering when we had carpet.

If there is not much clearance it is likely that the bottom of the door is catching on it and pushing it away when you open the door. Do you know if the flooring under your carpet is wood or concrete? If it is wood, you could nail down a rug or runner at each corner. If it is concrete, I suppose that you could actually stitch the rug to the carpet. You would have to use a curved upholstery needle and a very thick cotton thread.

The bottom of the door is absolutely catching on it - but only after it wanders.

Thank you for ideas, everyone. I may give the turtles a try - and at least you've confirmed I'm not missing the obvious.